The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s3.5

c14.s3.5

Already even the Rig Vedic tradition of Yama (IX, 113, 8, X, 14, 13, X, 17, 1, X, 58,1) introduces us to conditions of bliss such as had existed in some golden age, after which therefore the social reformers of the day were aspiring. The Buddhist conception of equality and fraternity did not disappear with the so-called Buddhist ages. It reappeared in the Vaiṣṇava *milieu*. The *Viṣṇu Purāṇa* accords great importance to the Śūdras. The democratic spirit associated with Rāmānandism exercised a beneficial influence on the souls of the popular classes, leading to the energetic manifestation of the consciousness of self-importance. Viṣṇudās Kavi's *Svargārohaṇa* (Ascent to Heaven) dwells at length on the merits of the oppressed classes to the exclusion of the upper ten thousands who are exhibited in the worst colour. We are therefore in a position to assert that from the *Vrātya* Book of the *Atharva Veda* to the *Svargārohaṇa* of the Vaiṣṇava poet the Hindu democratic or egalitarian tradition has broadened down from precedent to precedent. And so far as the Moslem atmosphere is concerned, we should be prepared to admit that it did not kill the traditional Hindu spirit of expansion and social democracy as promoted by race-fusion.